Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

1096

SICIU8

SIGNATURE

SICIUS. A sort of money current among the ancient English, of the value of 2d. SICKNESS. Disease; malady; any mor Did condition of the body (including insan ity) which, for the time being, hinders or prevents the organs from normally discharg ing their several functions. L. R. 8 Q. B. 295. SICUT ALIAS. As at another time, or heretofore. This was a second writ sent out when the first was not executed. Covvell. SICUT ME DEUS ADJUVET. Lat. So help me God. Fleta, 1. 1, c. 18, § 4. Sicut natura nil facit per saltum, ita nee lex. Co. Litt. 238. In the same way as nature does nothing by a bound, so neither does the law. SIDE. The same court is sometimes said to have different sides; that is, different provinces or fields of jurisdiction. Thus, an admiralty court may have an " instance side," distinct from its powers as a prize court; the "crown side," (criminal jurisdiction) is to be distinguished from the "plea side," (civil juiisdiction;) the same court may have an "equity side" and a "law side." SIDE-BAB. RULES. In English prac tice. There are some rules which the courts authorize their officers to grant as a matter of course without formal application being made to them in open court, and these are technically termed "side-bar rules," because formerly they were moved for by the attor neys at the side bar in court; such, for in stance, was the lule to plead, which was an order or command of the court requiring a defendant to plead within a specified number ot days. Such also were the rules to reply, to rejoin, and many others, the granting of which depended upon settled rules of prac tice rather than upon the discretion of the courts, all of which are rendered unnecessary by recent statutory changes. Brown, voc. "Eule." SIDE REPORTS. A term sometimes applied to unofficial volumes or series of re ports, as contrasted with those prepared by the official lepoiter of the court, or to collec tions of cases omitted from the official re ports. SIDESMEN. In ecclesiastical law. These were originally persons whom, in the ancient episcopal synods, the bishops were wont to summon out of each parish to give infoima tion of the disorders of the clei gy and people,

and to report heretics. In process of time they became standing officers, under the title of "synodsmen," "sidesmen," "or "quest men." The whole of their duties seems now to have devolved by custom upon the church wardens of a parish. 1 Burn, Ecc. Law, 399. SIDEWALK. A walk for foot passen gers at the side of a street or road. See 11 Kan. 391; 69 N. Y. 250. SIEN. An obsolete form of the word "scion," meaning offspung or descendant. Co. Litt. 123a. SIERVO. Span. In Spanish law. A slave. Las Partidas, pt. 4, tit. 21, 1. 1. SIETE PARTIDAS. Span. Seven parts. See LAS PARTIDAS. SIGHT. When a bill of exchange is ex pressed to be payable "at sight," it means on presentment to the drawee. SIGIL. Seal; signature. SIGILLUM. Lat. In old English law. A seal. Sigillum est cera impressa, quia cera sine impressione non est sigillum. A seal is a piece of wax impressed, because wax without an impression is not a seal. 8 Inst. 169. SIGLA. Lat. In Roman law. Marks or signs of abbreviation used in writing. Cod. 1, 17, 11, 13. SIGN. To affix one's name to a writ ing or instrument, for the purpose of au thenticating it, or to give it effect as one's act. To "sign " is merely to write one's name on paper, or declare assent or attestation by some sign or mark, and does not, like "subscribe," require that one should write at the bottom of the instrument signed. 6 N. Y. 9, 13; 4 Edw. 102. SIGN-MANUAL. In English law. The signature or subscription of the king is termed his "sign-manual." There is this difference between what the sovereign does under the sign manual and what he or she does under the great seal, viz., that the former is done as a personal act of the sovereign; the latter as an act of state. Brown. SIGNATORIUS ANNULUS. Lat. In the civil law. A signet-ring; a seal-ring. Dig. 50, 16, 74. SIGNATURE. In ecclesiastical law. The name of a sort of rescript, without seal, containing the supplication, the signatuie ot

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